The Seder 2023: Urchatz
Urchatz is the second step in the Pesach Seder but it may bring up the first question of the night: Why do it? Join Rabbi David Sedley as he explores washing the hands without a bracha.
Access our full pre-Pesach Seder 2023 special program schedule HERE.
The Seder 2023: Urchatz: The Seder 2023: Urchatz
In this class I speak about why we wash our hands, why we don’t say a bracha, and why we say “Kadesh and Washing” when it would make more sense to say “Washing and Karpas.”
Rabbi David Sedley lives in Jerusalem with his wife and six children. He was born and raised in New Zealand before coming to Israel in 1989. He left Israel temporarily (for eight years) to serve as a communal Rabbi in Scotland and England and returned to Israel in 2004. His latest book is "The Elephant of Deliberate Forgetfulness: and other unexpected interpretations of the weekly Torah reading". He has also translated Rabbeinu Yonah's commentary on Pirkei Avos and is the co-author of Sefiros: Spiritual Refinement Through Counting the Omer (both Judaica Press). Over the years Rabbi Sedley has worked as a journalist, a translator, a video director and in online reputation management. He also writes a weekly Torah blog on the Times of Israel.